Emergency lighting unit



Oct. 26, 1937. c. P. HULST EMERGENCY LIGHTING UNIT Filed Feb. 20, 1936ama/wfio'v: CLAREN 013E HULST) wow,-

Patented Oct. 26, 1937 PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

My invention consists in a new and useful improvement in emergencylighting units and constitutes an improvement over my inventiondescribed and claimed in my co-pending application for United StatesLetters Patent, Serial Number 30,676. The particularly novel and usefulfeatures of my invention herein described and claimed are the meanswhich I provide to render my improved device portable, the means foradjusting the lamp in the device to control the direction of itsprojected beam, and the means which I provide to utilize thecurrent-control means as a means for obviating condensation of moisture,fogging the transparent portion of the device through which theemergency light is projected.

While I have illustrated in the drawing filed herewith and hereinafterfully described one specific embodiment of my invention, it is to bedistinctly understood that I do not'consider my invention limited tosaid specific embodiment, but refer for its scope to the claims appendedhereto.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved device, a portion of the doorthereof being broken away to expose the interior construction.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the drawing, my device comprises a housing having therear wall I, the side walls 2 and 3, the top wall 4 and the bottom 5,and the horizontally disposed shelf 6 dividing the housing into theupper compartment A and the lower compartment B. Hinged to the side wall2 is the door I having the flange 'la and the flange 'Ib, to overlie thetop 4 and the bottom 5 respectively, and the flanges 'l--c and I-d tooverlie the walls 2 and 3 respectively, when the door I is closed. Thedoor I is provided with a transparent panel 'Ie of glass, or otherfrangible material, to render visible the interior of the compartment Bof the housing when the door I is closed.

Mounted in the top 4, there is the male member 9 of a main-circuitcoupling, its contact fingers extending outside of the housing, to bereceived into the female member II] of the coupling, the wires II ofwhich are connected to the main lighting circuit. I provide a resistorI2 suitably mounted adjacent the member 9 by means of insulated mountsI3. I provide the electro-magnet I 4 suitably mounted on the wall 3. Thewire I5 leads from one contact of the member 9 to the resistor I2, thewire I6 leads from the resistor I2 to the electro-magnet I4, and thewire I1 leads from the electro-magnet I4 to the other contact of themember 9, thus completing the circuit from the coupling, through theresistor I2 and the electro-magnet M.

The armature I8 of the electro-magnet I4 is mounted on a spring arm I9suitably mounted in a grounded connection on the wall 3, and providedwith a contact arm 20, to co-act with a second contact arm 2| which issuitably mounted in an insulated connection on the wall 3, these contactarms 28 and BI forming the switch S.

I provide the electric batteries 22 in the compartment A, resting uponthe shelf 6. I provide a post 23 fixed to the rear wall I and projectingforwardly adjacent the edge of one of the batteries 22, and a strap 24hinged to the wall 2, and having an orifice through which extends thebolt 25 on the outer end of the post 23. A wing nut 26 on the bolt 25serves to clamp the strap 2 on the post 23 to maintain the batteries 22in proper position.

Suitably positioned in the compartment B, behind the transparent panel'l-e of the door I, is the emergency light E, comprising a base 21suitably mounted upon the rear wall I, a socket 28 mounted by aball-and-socket joint 29 on the base 21, a lamp 39 in the socket 28 anda reflector 3I about the lamp 30.

Suitably mounted on the rear wall I, below the emergency light E, is themanually controlled switch S-I.

The batteries 22 are connected in series, and a wire 32 leads from thebatteries 22 to one of the contacts of the switch SI, a wire 33 leadsfrom the other contact of the switch SI to one of the contacts of thesocket 28 for the lamp 38. The other contact of the socket 28 isgrounded. The contact 20 on the armature I8 of the electromagnet I4 isgrounded through the spring arm I9, and the contact 2| is connected bythe wire 34 with the batteries 22, thus completing the circuit from thebatteries 22, through the switches S and S-I and the lamp 30.

I provide in the compartment B a plurality of portable electric lamps 35in spring clips 36 fixed on the rear wall I.

I provide on the wall 3 a pivoted latch 31 to coact with an eye 38 onthe door I to maintain the door I in closed position. This latch 31 hasa central, squared orifice 39 into which may be inserted the squared endof a key passed through the wall 3, to control the latch 31.

Suitably disposed through the rear wall I are the heads of bolts 40 withwhich co-act the wing nuts 4| to attach the housing to the bolts 40 whenthey have been suitably fixed in the supporting medium for my device,such as a wall, etc.

I provide a suitable handle 42 on the outside of the top 4.

From the foregoing description of the details of construction of myimproved device, its use and operation will be obvious. When the devicehas been mounted on the bolts 40 and the member 9 engaged in the memberH), the current of the main lighting circuit flowing through theresistor I2 and the electro-magnet [4 causes the armature l8 to draw thecontact arm 20, against the influence of the spring arm l9, away fromthe contact arm 25, thus opening the circuit from the batteries 22 tothe lamp 30 (the switch Sl being closed). Immediately upon failure ofthe current in the main lighting circuit, the electro-magnet I4 isde-energized, releasing the armature I8, and the contact arm 20 underthe influence of the spring arm i9 is brought into contact with thecontact arm 2|, and current flows from the batteries 22 to the lamp 3!]which projects its light through the transparent panel l@ of the door I.If it is desired to turn out the lamp 30, this may be done by switch8-4. It is obvious that by the use of a key in the latch 37, the door imay be released and opened, giving access to the portable lamps 35,aswell as the switch S|. In an emergency and no key being available, thefrangible panel '!--e may be broken and access to lamps 35 be afforded.In either case; access may be had to the wing nuts 41 which can bereadily removed from the bolts 48, permitting removal of the device fromits location, the members 9 and I being readily and automaticallyuncoupled by the removal of the device from the bolts 40. The handle 42then renders the device portable.

It is to be noted that'the ball-and-socket joint 29 for the mounting ofthe lamp 313 makes pose sible adjustment of the lamp 3%! and itsreflector 3|, to direct the beam of light from the lamp 3!], as desired.

The resistor I2 is provided to permit use of an electro-magnet operableby a current of considerably less voltage than that of the main electriclighting circuit, and it is to be noted that the operation of theresistor l2 supplies a beneficent warmth within the device to obviatemoisture liable to deteriorate the mechanism and fog the transparentpanel 'l-e.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In an emergency lighting unit, the combination of a metallic housing;a transparent panel in the wall of said housing; a battery-operatedelectric lamp having one of its wires grounded on said housing; a switchtherefor having a spring-arm grounded on said housing; an electro-magnetadapted when energized to hold said arm in disconnected position; meansfor connecting said electro-magnet with an electric circuit; and aresistor adapted to cause said circuit to supply only sufficient currentto cause said arm to be disconnected by the electro-magnet and thus tosupply sufficient heat in the housing to prevent moisture from foggingthe panel.

2. In an emergency lighting unit, the combination of a housing; atransparent, frangible panel in one of the walls of said housing; abattery-o-perated lamp in said housing; a switch therefor; anelectro-magnet for operating said switch; means for connecting saidelectro-magnet with an electric circuit, said means being adapted touncouple when the housing is removed from its supporting medium; boltspassing through the Wall of said housing and adapted to be fixed in saidsupporting medium so as to be inaccessible except from within saidhousing; and a nut on each bolt to removably attach said housing to saidsupporting medium by means of said bolts, the bolts and nuts being sopositioned as to be readily accessible through the orifice in the wallof the housing provided by breaking the frangible panel,

CLARENCE P. HULST

